Monthly Archives: October 2009

In what is sure to be a lavish ceremony Toulouse, France head-quartered Airbus S.A.S. will deliver to French national airline Air France the carrier’s first A380 superjumbo registration F-HPJA MSN033 at Hamburg, Germany. The A380 features the new livery of Air France which was unveiled earlier this year, but F-HPJA will not be the first aircraft to wear the new …

A fellow co-founder of the Bangalore Spotters Group is ace photographer Praveen Sundaram better known as Photoyogi. Being a seasoned photographer, well trained by his famous photographer father, he is able to keep his cool and shoot with a steady hand even in the most strenuous conditions. This cool however, does not extend to us lesser mortals, and the jovial …

Boeing and Bangalore based Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) signed an agreement recently for the production of flaperons for use on Boeing’s 777 series commercial jetliner. The work will be performed in HAL’s Bangalore complex. The 777 flaperons, a highly complex composite assembly is instrumental in controlling the airplane’s maneuverability in flight. Referred to as a “control surface” flaperons work both …

While India’s three legacy carriers Air India, Jet Airways, and Kingfisher Airlines struggle with mounting losses, the low fare carriers IndiGo and SpiceJet are making steady progress and have declared profits. (Read related SpiceJet story). Over the year the two airlines have followed similar yet distinctly different business models from each other on their path to profitability and increased market …

Continental Airlines (NYSE: CAL) is poised to join Star Alliance today following months of preparations for the first-ever transition of a major airline from one global alliance to another. A live video webcast of the joining ceremony where Continental will become a member of Star Alliance is available via a link at continental.com or via this link Within the last …

In 2003 Virgin Atlantic introduced the “Herringbone design” seat layout in it’s “Upper Class” on which it had spent £50 million designing. Contour, the Welsh seat manufacturer that built these seats for Virgin, sold the unusual design to other airlines. Virgin claiming that it owned the patent on the seat design took Contour to court to stop it making any …

Gulf television has broadcast surveillance video footage of the Azza Transport Boeing 707-300 freighter, registration ST-AKW which crashed at Sharjah while performing freight flight SD-2241 from Sharjah in the United Arab Emirates to Khartoum in Sudan on Wednesday October 21. The video shows the 707 climb out normally though the actual lift-off is out of view 23 seconds in video). …

European majors Air France, British Airways, and Lufthansa are reducing their flights to the silicon city of India and the home of Bangalore Aviation — Bangalore. Air France and Lufthansa cut frequency From the soon to start Winter schedule, Air France and Lufthansa will reduce their current daily operations to six flights a week. Air France flies an Airbus A330-200 …

News reports are indicating that a Sudanese Boeing 707 cargo plane with six persons on board crashed and burned on take-off from Sharjah International Airport (IATA:SHJ, ICAO:OMSJ) in the United Arab Emirates around 15:50 local. The Boeing 707 crashed about two kilometres from the airport soon after taking off from Sharjah to Khartoum, the Sudanese capital. Eye witnesses say the …

Jet Airways has moved from from Terminal 3 to Terminal 4 at London’s Heathrow Airport. The departures concourse has been newly refurbished and now offers a larger check-in area, with high ceilings and brighter lighting, making it easier and quicker for passengers to check in. Jet Airways’ check-in counters are now located in Zone C, with desks 1-6 in operation …

State carrier Air India (AI) has announced its winter schedule which comes into effect from 25 October which highlights a significant increase in commitment to Bangalore. The airline will be operating around 130 flights per week ex Bangalore to various destinations in the country and abroad, offering around 17,000 seats weekly. The carrier is introducing new “same day return” flights …

Boeing delivered on Saturday, a new 777-300ER registration B-KPL to Cathay Pacific Airways, painted in a special oneworld livery to highlight the alliance’s 10th anniversary. Image courtesy Boeing. Click on image for a high resolution view. The airplane is the 12th Boeing 777-300ER for Cathay Pacific and brings the airline’s 777 fleet to 29 airplanes, which includes 12 777-300s and …

Image courtesy Airbus S.A.S. Click on image for a high res view. The first A330-200 Freighter test registration F-WWYE MSN 1004 was revealed as it emerged from the paint shop in St. Martin in Toulouse in preparation for the flightline. The aircraft should be handed over to the Airbus flight-test department in about 10 days and the maiden flight is …

Since yesterday, India and Indians across the world are celebrating the festival of light — Diwali or Deepavali – the most significant festival in India. The closest equivalent I can think of is in the US, the period between Thanksgiving and Christmas. Since the Dussehra festival last month, there have been sales across the land, with people shopping away much …

Malaysian low-cost carrier Air Asia has confirmed dates to launch scheduled passengers services from Kuala Lumpur to three more cities in India. One November 12th, Asia Asia will begin services to Kochi (Cochin) the commercial capital of Kerala, four days later on November 16th to Thiruvananthapuram (Trivandrum) the political capital of Kerala and three days after that to the West …

Bangalore Aviation regular Aditya Kamath recently flew the Emirates Boeing 777-300ER from Bangalore to Dubai. He made a video of the take off. Turn the volume up high to hear those great GE90-115B engines. Visit Aditya’s Flickr page to see some more photos from his trip.

Just about three months ago, Boeing 777-300ER (MSN 36563) which was destined to join the Jet Airway’s fleet as VT-JEL made its first flight. See videos here. In a sad commentary on the sorry state of the Indian airline industry, Jet Airways has indefinitely deferred the delivery of this aircraft. Last Thursday, the aircraft still registered in a Boeing registration …

In its “Bags fly free” series of ads, US low fare carrier Southwest Airlines hits out at the chargeable baggage policies of “full service” carriers like American, United, Continental, Delta, US Air, and British Airways. In India we are getting ready to celebrate the five days marking the festival of Diwali, the biggest holiday of the year. Travel is high, …

Last week it was reported that Flughafen Zurich AG, which operates the Zurich airport will sell 12% of it’s 17 per cent stake in the Bangalore International Airport Ltd (BIAL), which operates the private Bengaluru International Airport, to fund its further growth in India. A lot of people asked me on Twitter why Unique Zurich was taking this step, and …

This edition of Smokin Touchdowns consists of new Airbus A320 aircraft from two of India’s low fare carriers–A320-214 VT-WAJ of GoAir and A320-232 VT-INZ which till early September was IndiGo airline’s newest. Click on the images to visit the Bangalore Aviation Flickr site for a larger view. To see more Smokin Touchdowns, click here.